Appauling Service - Claim accident rejected

My car was involved in an accident before lockdown, it was damaged on the right front side . The car was taken to Renew IT panelbeaters greenstone brach for repairing . On the day I picked up the car I had issues when changing gears , the gears were hard. I drove less than 500M then I returned the car as it was not drivable then one of their(RenewIt) mechanic(Steve ) test drove the car and he also didnt drive far due to the gears being hard. When he returned he made some adjustments , the gears were still hard but the car was drivable .

The insurance said they will fix the gears because a report from VW said its wear and tear and they dont cover these.

My car was drivable prior to the accident now after the panelbeaters did some work on the car it was undrivable . The car had gone for a 90000km service while it was on 86000km now the car is at 87000km , the service should have picked up the wear and tear.

VW Lindsay Saker Greenstone report " 11 August 2020

REPORT: Removed gearbox on the above-mentioned vehicle , stripped gearbox open and inspected all gears. No damages found on any of the internal gears or selectors. Removed clutch kit and found pressure plate fingers not aligned properly. We suspect that this could be the issue when changing gears and we recommend complete clutch replacement. This is wear and tear on the parts and not due to accident.

Hope this is in order,

Best regards, "